Announcements
In our efforts to provide you with a variety of healthy food choices, we are delighted to have found free-range, vegetarian fed eggs from Happy Hollow Farm in Selma, NC, grass-fed, antibiotic and hormone-free beef and pork from Poplar Creek Farm in Knightdale, NC, and dairy products from Jackson Dairy Farm located in Dunn, NC. Jackson Dairy is a sustainable farm allowing their cows to free-graze in a pasture not treated with pesticides. And their cows are not given hormones or antibiotics. They have a wide range of products including white and chocolate milk, heavy cream, half-n-half, butter and a variety of ice creams. We will be purchasing dairy products from them to help our members better feed their families and, at the same time, support these wonderful people who are working so diligently to provide communities with healthy dairy choices. You don't have to purchase milk from farmers you don't know because we have one right here in our backyard. The Jackson Family is very dedicated to the art of dairy farming and have been since 1949. 
An excerpt from their website states: "Jackson's Dairy produces all natural, Pure Fresh Milk and dairy products, as well as fresh strawberries. Our label stating milk from non rBST treated cows is the first and only label registered with the NCDA and DEHNR making this claim. In the event sickness or injury should occur and medication is recommended by a trained veterinarian, the cow is isolated from the rest of the herd and milk is discarded twice as long as the FDA recommended discard time to be sure you have the purest product available. Unlike most of the competition, all milk produced for PURE FRESH dairy products is from cows owned, fed, cared for and milked daily on the Jackson family farm. Milk produced today is pumped directly to our plant for pasteurization and delivered to your store in less than 24 hours. No competition can compare. Most raw milk is transported for many miles and several days before processing and packaging-its freshness and origin are unknown."
We are happy and excited to announce that we have decided to press forward with our 2010 CSA program. We've had lots of inquiries from new ones, and encouragement to press forward from others, and we appreciate all the help!
We will be attending the Johnston FRESH: A Local Food Fair event scheduled for Saturday, February 27 from 5-9 pm. The purpose of this event is to introduce the community to local farming, ranching and other resources that will assist them in making healthier choices while supporting local farms, a very HOT topic due to the state of the environment and the declining health of everyone. For a small fee, guests will have the opportunity to view FRESH: The Movie. FRESH demonstrates the big differences that small farms can make, and how vital it is to the health of everyone that they are supported. Make plans to attend. Contact Leslie Hubbard at leslieh.hubbard@gmail.com for more information.
Supporting local farms supports our efforts to create a healthier community and environment. With your help, we can start with one person at a time.
Please feel free to contact us with questions or comments. Thank you!
A grocery store tomato is plump and full, round and smooth, its skin red and unblemished. Gorgeous. But its pale, watery flesh yields little or no real taste and it’s so hard you could bounce a quarter off it..... Click the picture for the complete article.
OUR PRODUCE IS NOW IN WHOLE FOODS! We recently took some of our produce to Eastern Carolina Organics (ECO). They are a clearing house and food distributor for other chains as well. They were very pleased with our produce, and we hope to continue selling to them in the future. So next time you're in Whole Foods, you may come across some of our produce.
We are excited to announce that a wonderful story about our CSA was aired on NBC 17 last night 4/30/09. Click the here to view it. We are so thrilled! Hope you enjoy it, and if anyone has questions, please contact us.
Just to let everyone know that our spring onions did not survive the heat. We lost a lot of the them when the temperatures dipped down into the teens back in March, and the remaining ones did not pass quality control due to the unseasonably hot temperatures. With the first share delivery, we purchased organic onions from Whole Foods for the members, and we were planning to do it again this time, but Whole Foods in Cary told us that they rejected the shipment they received yesterday, April 28. We do apologize for this, but we will more than make up for it as the season progresses.
The heat has also affected the mustard greens and spinach. The mustards are beginning to flower and the spinach leaves are turning yellow. We did manage to pull enough for the members this week, so if you see a few yellow leaves, please understand that this is something beyond our control. We do have a second planting of both the mustards and spinach that is not quite ready to be harvested, but if the heat continues, they too will not last. They are calling for cooler temperatures in the next few days which will help. With the drier soil conditions, we have been watering this week. We are doing everything possible to keep your plants healthy.
If you visit the farm, please do not expect to see picture perfect rows of perfectly groomed plants. This is only achieved with strong herbicides and pesticides. We carefully hand pull weeds as we go, or we cover them with dirt. In the absence of sunlight the weeds die. Once they die, they turn into compost which provides nutrients to the soil and also helps retain moisture.
If you see small holes in the leaves, don't be alarmed. Although we treat the plants as soon as we see harmful insects, organic pesticides take much longer to work than poisons. Healthy pesticides work by transmitting a bacteria to the pests. It is not harmful to humans or animals! If you have any comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We love to hear from our members!!!
Posted 4/29/09
OUR FIRST HARVEST IS IN!!!!
And we are so excited!!!
We will be pulling produce on Monday, April13th and delivering to our members on Tuesday the 14th or Wednesday the 15th. More produce will be ready in the coming weeks. We will keep you posted. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Spinach
Mustard Greens
After the torrential rains we had this past week, we discovered that our first planting of cilantro and beets did not survive. However, we will be re-planting these vegetables very soon. If you have any questions regarding this announcement, please do not hesitate to contact us.